Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The paper is submitted in PDF format and it complies with the layout in the templates described in the Author Guidelines (currently, single-column format: see recent issues).
  • Author affiliation should be stated on the web form at time of submission for all authors and usually will not change because the affiliation should reflect where the work was done.
  • All authors agree to submission of the paper and to the order of names and affiliations for each author.
  • To support double-blind review, no author details appear on the paper and any references that clearly identify the author or authors are anonymised.
  • Provide the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with a list of up to 5 potential reviewers including email addresses. For each, indicate why they are suitable. Do not include anyone who is from the same institution or who has collaborated with any of the authors in the last 5 years.
  • If any reviewer should be excluded inform the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with details including why the reviewer is not suitable.
  • ACM 2012 classifications (not the earlier 1998 system) are given.
  • For each reference cited that has a DOI, the DOI for the reference must be included in the reference list as a clickable link, e.g. https://doi.org/x.xxxx/xxxxx.
  • Journal names and book titles in the reference list are not abbreviated.
  • On acceptance, authors will be invoiced for publication charges (currently ZAR6000, subject to change), payable before the paper is published. Authors who have no budget can apply for this charge to be waived at the time the paper is accepted.
  • Reference citations are in numeric format, e.g. [5].
  • The paper is original and has not appeared elsewhere, and is not submitted elsewhere. If it extends a previously published paper, email the editor on submission and provide a summary of changes; if a reviewer or editor detects excessive similarity to other work, the paper may be summarily rejected. All submissions are screened through iThenticate.
  • If targeting a special issue, you should state that and give the name of the special issue in the space allowed for comments to the editor.

Author Guidelines

Initial submission for review must be PDF format. Authors can submit their papers once accepted in either LaTeX or MS Word format. The paper must be in the standard SACJ layout. As a general guideline, aim for 10-15 pages in final typeset format. Length is not a primary criterion for acceptance or rejection, but excessive length can be a reason for rejection or revision on the grounds of readability or unnecessary material that detracts from the central message.

SACJ LaTeX class and BiBTeX style files as well as an example of a paper in MSWord format are available for download; we recommend using Overleaf; we have a SACJ LaTeX template set up for that. We do not have direct submission from Overleaf configured but you can export the PDF and submit via the journal site and share the Overleaf project with the Production Editor once the paper is accepted.

SACJ has a double-blind reviewing policy. The author’s name and affiliation should not appear on the title page (or elsewhere). Citing of previous articles by the author should be anonymised if appropriate. Acknowledgments and thanks should not be included in the draft for review. If you use MicrosoftWord please make sure that your name and affiliation are not saved in the document properties. In addition to a detailed review, referees may make any of the following decisions, which will be passed on to you by the editor handling your paper, who will balance possibly differing views of the reviewers:

  • Accept Submission – there may be minor concerns or corrections
  • Revisions Required – concerns or corrections should be checked by the editor before final acceptance
  • Resubmit for Review – the paper cannot be published without significant improvements and must go for another round of review (preferably by the same reviewers, if they are still available)
  • Decline – the paper is not fit to publish and should not be resubmitted

For Decline and Resubmit for Review you should not submit the paper as a new submission.

Decline means we do not see a way to salvage the paper; at best, it may be suitable to submit elsewhere.

For Resubmit for Review, even if there are substantial changes ,the paper should be submitted as another round of submission using the same URL as the original submission.

On acceptance of your paper you will be invoiced for publication charges; should you not have budget to pay this amount, apply to the editor-in-chief to waive the charges (for more detail including the current rate, click here).

The paper must start with:

  • a title (as brief as possible);
  • an abstract of less than 200 words – the abstract should not contain any references, footnotes or special symbols that are hard to render in plain text;
  • an appropriate keyword list;
  • a list of relevant ACM Computing Classification System categories and concepts, the latest version of which can be found at https://dl.acm.org/ccs/ccs.cfm. We transitioned to the 2012 system and as of 2016 and no longer accept the 1998 system.

Tables and figures must be titled and numbered, with separate numbering for tables and figures. Figures and tables must be referred to in the text and should be referred to by number (not, e.g., using “above” or “below”).

Papers submitted in LaTeX

Papers submitted in LaTeX must use the SACJ LaTeX class file. The paper will be set using Overleaf. If you use any LaTeX packages not included in this installation, please also supply them with the paper – this is easiest if you use Overleaf. The class correctly sizes various dimensions and provides a number of commands which generate SACJ specific layout. Using the standard class file (whether standalone or using Overleaf) minimizes changes by the production editor, reducing the chances of delays in production.

The SACJ pre-publication bibliographic style is designed for simplicity, with numeric citation (such as [42]). The production editor changes the style to APA Version 6, which is compex to set up and proof read, and hence not used during review.

Papers created in MS Word

Papers created in MS Word must conform to the template available above. In order to ensure that your paper is in the correct format, download the example and then use the Format Painter to transfer the correct formatting to your paper. The final version for publication will be typeset using LaTeX, so your paper will be translated into that format. It is hence vitally important that you make consistent use of style sheets in your document preparation. Please follow the instructions for the creation of the Reference list as described below. In the paper text, cite items using numeric citation (such as [42]). This makes it relatively easy for the Production Editor to transform citations to LaTex.

The Reference List

Creating a bibliography for your paper is not always an easy task. Many authors also find it difficult to keep their reference style consistent. Modern word processors and typesetting systems can automate this process and ensure absolute consistency. Hence, all authors, irrespective of the format in which the paper is submitted, will be required to create and submit a Bibtex file to hold the references necessary to create the reference list. For those who find the following description of Bibtex intimidating, consider using a reference manager that can export in Bibtext format, such as Mendeley or Jabref. For MS Word users, an excellent introduction to Bibtex can be found at http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb19-2/tb59patash.pdf and a comprehensive description of BibTex is available at http://newton.ex.ac.uk/tex/pack/bibtex/btxdoc/btxdoc.html.

A bibliography item is specified in the Bibtex file in the following way:

@type{database_key,
  field = “field value”,
  … ,
  field = “field value”
}

There are a number of types available, and for each type certain fields are compulsory and others are optional. Examples of the 4 most commonly used bibliography items are given below. To create your BibTex file, create one such entry for each of your references. Note: we spell journal names and book titles in full; please do not abbreviate.

@article{Zhang1999,
  author = "S.Zhang and C. Zhu and J. K. O. Sinand and P. K. T. Mok ",
  title = "A Novel Ultrathin Elevated Channel Low-temperature Poly-{Si} {TFT} ",
  journal = "IEEE Electron Device Letters",
  volume = "20",
  month = "nov" ,
  year = "1999",
  doi = "10.1109/55.798046",
  pages = "569 -- 571"
}

@book{Cullity1972,
  author = "B. D. Cullity",
  title = "Introduction to Magnetic Materials",
  publisher = "Addison-Wesley",
  address = "Reading, MA" ,
  year = "1972"
}

@inproceedings{Gupta1997,
  author = "R. K. Gupta and S.D. Senturia",
  title = "Pull-in Time Dynamics as a Measure of Absolute Pressure",
  booktitle = "Proc. {IEEE} International Workshop on Microelectromechanical Systems ({MEMS’97)",
  doi = "10.1109/MEMSYS.1997.581830",
  year = "1997"
}

@misc{Bigham2006,
  author = "Jeff Bigham",
  title = "A super sweet article",
  month = "May;,
  year = "2006" ,
  note = "\url{http://www.manticmoo.com/articles/jeff/programming/latex/bibtex-types.php}"
}

Authors are separated by the word and. If an “author” is an organization with a multiword name like Peach Computers, Inc., enclose the name in { } so that it is not broken down incorrectly into surname and other names. Also use { } to enclose capitals you want to preserve in paper titles as BibTeX aggressively loses capitals in paper titles (see for example the Zhang1999 reference).

Pre-Publication

You may submit a paper at a self-archive (pre-publication) site such as arxiv.org or researchgate.net once the paper is accepted, provided you acknowledge publication in SACJ and add the DOI of the published version, once it is known, to your self-archived version. Pre-publishing before acceptance compromises double-blind review.

Research Papers (general)

Papers in this section cannot be classified as one of Computer Science or Information Systems.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  1. The paper is original and has not appeared elsewhere. If it extends a previously published paper, email the editor on submission and provide a summary of changes; if a reviewer or editor detects excessive similarity to other work, the paper may be summarily rejected.
  2. The paper is submitted in PDF format and it complies with the layout in the templates described in the Author Guidelines (currently, single-column format: see recent issues).
  3. Author affiliation should be stated on the web form at time of submission for all authors and usually will not change because the affiliation should reflect where the work was done.
  4. All authors agree to submission of the paper and to the order of names and affiliations for each author.
  5. To support double-blind review, no author details appear on the paper and any references that clearly identify the author or authors are anonymised.
  6. Provide the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with a list of up to 5 potential reviewers including email addresses, ideally at least one from overseas. For each, indicate why they are suitable. Do not include anyone who has collaborated with any of the authors in the last 5 years.
  7. If any reviewer should be excluded inform the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with details including why the reviewer is not suitable.
  8. If the paper targets a special issue, indicate this and the name of the special issue in the space for comments below.
  9. ACM 2012 classifications (not the earlier 1998 system) are given.
  10. For each reference cited that has a DOI, that reference’s DOI must be included in the reference list.
  11. Reference citations are in numeric format, e.g. [5].
  12. On acceptance, authors will be invoiced for publication charges, payable before the paper is published. Authors who have no budget can apply for this charge to be waived at the time the paper is accepted.

Obituaries

Obituaries are published at the discretion of the editor-in-chief and are not peer reviewed.

Information Systems Research

Papers in this section must clearly be Information Systems; papers that overlap significantly with Computer Science or fit neither category should be submitted as Research Papers (general).

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  1. The paper is original and has not appeared elsewhere. If it extends a previously published paper, email the editor on submission and provide a summary of changes; if a reviewer or editor detects excessive similarity to other work, the paper may be summarily rejected.
  2. The paper is submitted in PDF format and it complies with the layout in the templates described in the Author Guidelines (currently, single-column format: see recent issues).
  3. Author affiliation should be stated on the web form at time of submission for all authors and usually will not change because the affiliation should reflect where the work was done.
  4. All authors agree to submission of the paper and to the order of names and affiliations for each author.
  5. To support double-blind review, no author details appear on the paper and any references that clearly identify the author or authors are anonymised.
  6. Provide the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with a list of up to 5 potential reviewers including email addresses, ideally at least one from overseas. For each, indicate why they are suitable. Do not include anyone who has collaborated with any of the authors in the last 5 years.
  7. If any reviewer should be excluded inform the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with details including why the reviewer is not suitable.
  8. If the paper targets a special issue, indicate this and the name of the special issue in the space for comments below.
  9. ACM 2012 classifications (not the earlier 1998 system) are given.
  10. For each reference cited that has a DOI, that reference’s DOI must be included in the reference list.
  11. Reference citations are in numeric format, e.g. [5].
  12. On acceptance, authors will be invoiced for publication charges, payable before the paper is published. Authors who have no budget can apply for this charge to be waived at the time the paper is accepted.

Computer Science Research

Papers in this section must clearly be Computer Science; papers that overlap significantly with Information Systems or fit neither category should be submitted as Research Papers (general).

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  1. The paper is original and has not appeared elsewhere. If it extends a previously published paper, email the editor on submission and provide a summary of changes; if a reviewer or editor detects excessive similarity to other work, the paper may be summarily rejected.
  2. The paper is submitted in PDF format and it complies with the layout in the templates described in the Author Guidelines (currently, single-column format: see recent issues).
  3. Author affiliation should be stated on the web form at time of submission for all authors and usually will not change because the affiliation should reflect where the work was done.
  4. All authors agree to submission of the paper and to the order of names and affiliations for each author.
  5. To support double-blind review, no author details appear on the paper and any references that clearly identify the author or authors are anonymised.
  6. Provide the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with a list of up to 5 potential reviewers including email addresses, ideally at least one from overseas. For each, indicate why they are suitable. Do not include anyone who has collaborated with any of the authors in the last 5 years.
  7. If any reviewer should be excluded inform the editor (in the space allowed for comments below) with details including why the reviewer is not suitable.
  8. If the paper targets a special issue, indicate this and the name of the special issue in the space for comments below.
  9. ACM 2012 classifications (not the earlier 1998 system) are given.
  10. For each reference cited that has a DOI, that reference’s DOI must be included in the reference list.
  11. Reference citations are in numeric format, e.g. [5].
  12. On acceptance, authors will be invoiced for publication charges, payable before the paper is published. Authors who have no budget can apply for this charge to be waived at the time the paper is accepted.

Communications

A communication is between a letter to the editor and a viewpoint: something useful for readers to know. It is not peer reviewed but the editor-in-chief reserves the right to reject an inappropriate or poorly-written communication.

Special Issue

Papers can only be submitted to a special issue when there is an open call for papers for a special issue. Guest editors will be appointed for a specific special issue, which may be a theme or extended papers from a conference.

Copyright Notice

Copyright of all work published here subsists in the authors. While SACJ retains right of first publication, subsequent re-publication is expressly permitted provided the original SACJ publication is acknowledged and cited, according to the terms detailed below. If plagiarism is detected during review, a paper may be summarily rejected and will not be accepted unless even minor infringements are corrected. Should plagiarism be detected after a paper is published, the Editor reserves the right to withdraw a paper from publication. We expect authors to be honest in representing work as their own, and to respect the time and effort our reviewers put in without an undue burden of policing plagiarism, and hence take violations seriously. SACJ applies the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all papers published in this journal. Authors who publish with SACJ agree to the following:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant SACJ right of first publication. The work is additionally licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that requires others who share the work to acknowledge the work’s authorship and initial publication in SACJ. Should anyone else wish to make commercial use of the work, SACJ cedes the right to the author to negotiate terms and does not expect to be paid any royalties.
  2. Authors may enter into additional arrangements for non-exclusive distribution of the SACJ-published version of the work (e.g., post it to a repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are required to refrain from posting their work online prior to completion of reviews so as not to compromise double-blind reviewing or confuse plagiarism checks.

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